My first encounter with very basic coding was around the age of 9 when I had my own MySpace profile and would experiment with HTML/CSS in order to customize my own layout. I would spend hours trying to perfect my profile by adding things like custom cursors, different colored fonts, tile backgrounds, and sometimes even hidden music players. Basically having a generic MySpace profile back then just wasn't cool, so if you didn't learn how to code...natural selection would come for you.
If you don't remember or never had a MySpace profile, the layouts looked something like this:
Most layouts were already pre-made so you could just paste it into the code editor section and then customize it however you would like. Much like how you could go into developer tools and change things around on a website.
MySpace had almost an entire generation learning basic code at a very young age. Unfortunately, customizing my own MySpace profile (and then Tumblr profile ~2013) is about as much as I know about basic coding. However, it does set the foundation and provides the general understanding of how it works, and taking classes like Digital Marketing will help build on it. These sites not only encourage kids to be more creative, but it gives them the opportunity to code without them realizing the potential that having a skill like that can have.
Even though coding was very minimal when creating a MySpace account, it sill is very helpful in teaching the upcoming generation about coding because we already have a basic understanding.
Hi Cynthia, I think this is a really cool take on the topic! Although I never had a MySpace, all my older cousins did, and I remember how much time they would dedicate to personalizing them and making them cool (or what they thought was cool). It’s really interesting how something that was so trendy was actually an introduction to a very in-depth filed – good thought!
Thank you Sergi!